Jennifer Gratz [Director of Research, American Civil Rights Institute]: "Attorney General Holder recently called the American people a "nation of cowards" with respect to the issue of race. For the most part, I agree with him but in, I suspect, a very different way than what he meant with his comment. The civil rights establishment led by the likes of the Reverends Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton and organizations such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), By Any Means Necessary (BAMN), the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center (BISC), American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Urban League — force people to be cowardly when it comes to race. Politicians, business owners and your average citizen, for the most part, all fear being unfairly labeled bigots and racists by these organizations. The old civil rights establishment is deeply out of touch with what the general public thinks when it comes to race, discrimination, and affirmative action.

I was nineteen years old when I chose to stand up and fight against racial discrimination. In 1997 I filed a lawsuit against the University of Michigan for racial discrimination in their admission policy. After the Supreme Court decided my case, Gratz v. Bollinger [PDF file], and a companion case, Grutter v. Bollinger [PDF file], I turned my attention to educating Americans about the harms of race preferences and then helping to give people the option to vote to end these discriminatory policies. Throughout my battles, I have had numerous people of different political persuasions and occupations whisper their support in my ear for my efforts — only to sit on the sideline when we needed someone to stand up, or worse yet, join forces with my opposition, not because of principle, but because it was the politically correct, the politically expedient, thing to do.

During the 2006 Michigan Civil Rights Initiative campaign, polls showed that Michigan voters were poised to defeat the initiative which would simply make it unconstitutional for the state to discriminate against or grant preferential treatment to any group or individual on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public contracting, and public education. Two days before the election public polls indicated that the initiative could be defeated by nearly 30 points. My mentor and one of the Initiative's key advisors, Ward Connerly, often said that the public polls could not be trusted. On election day the initiative passed with a 16 point margin. Voters are fearful to even tell a pollster that they believe that "affirmative action" has become nothing more than discrimination — that says something!

I hope Attorney General Holder is sincere when he says that our nation needs a frank conversation about race. However, until people can say what they believe without fear of being, unfairly, labeled a racist or having their business picketed because of their personal beliefs, I suspect people will continue to be guarded and politically correct rather than stand by their beliefs and principles."